Auto Union streamliner slot-car

In case anyone is interested this is the slot car I have been building which led to me asking the question in TNF about whether the car ran in practice at Reims with or without numbers on the bodywork.

As it hasn't been resolved I took the plunge anyway and opted for putting the transfers on. This slot car is a pretty big lump so I doubt it will compete too well against my conventional cars but I love the aerodynamics that Auto Union and Mercedes Benz used in the 1930s so had to have this car in my collection.

Actually the Auto Union was a simple build as I bought the "Classic" fibreglass bodyshell from Charlie Fitzpatrick who has been supplying the hobby for over 50 years and still going strong. I had to make up a driver figure by converting an Airfix soldier and I had to use home made transfers for the race numbers

If you don’t mind me being a little self indulgent I will give an overview about how I tackle a slot car build.

Half the fun of the build is the research and I spend a week or two checking my reference books and my collection of MotorSport magazines looking for the right photographs of the car.

If I can find a commercially available body shell I will buy it, there are a few excellent suppliers such as Classic and Betta, where the Auto Union body shell came from but if there is nothing available I will carve the body myself.

I’m no master model-maker or engineer and I don’t set out to make a perfect replica of a specific car, my interest is in building slot racing cars rather than accurate miniatures so I am happy to attempt to capture the feel or the look of a car that I have a passion about.

When I am making a body master for moulding and resin casting I start with a block of Jelutong as it is a nice fine grain wood and easy to carve.

I often use scale drawings from the 1960s and 70s “Model Cars” magazines although the accuracy of these is variable so I will often alter these using photographs as a guide and I start by cutting out the side elevation view in the wood block followed by the plan view and then work on shaping the contours.

A bit more refining of the shape and the surface.

The buck for the windscreen.

The body panel lines have been scribed, sanding sealer applied and a base added for the moulding process.

The first resin shell out of the silicon mould

If the carving is for a one off body shell I use balsa.

I didn't have any drawings for this Lotus 12 so I photocopied a side shot of the car and scaled the wheelbase measurement to give me the starting point for the carving.

Basic tools to cut the block to shape and sand to the side elevation drawing on the wood.

Starting to rough out the shape using reference photos as a guide.

Refining the shape.

Forming the cockpit area.

Dry fitting various details prior to painting.

Ready for the track.

All my cars have quite simple piano wire and brass sheet chassis like the one here for my Maserati 250F V12

All my slot cars are raced at a local club and at National retro meetings where other old pharts like me enjoy building, racing and talking motor racing.

Love the Lotus 12, too. I hope the exhaust pipe falls off occasionally, in the interests of realism.

I have built about a dozen balsa bodied cars, nothing more modern than 1963, but my skill runs out when it comes to achieving a fine finish. Also they soon acquire a "used" look. And I ran out of old pharts to race against some years ago.

A belated thank you for the kind comments and after a few monthshere is my latest balsa wood shelled slot car.

The largest car that raced at Brooklands and the biggest slot car I've built to date. The Thomas Special, BABS in 1926 track configuration

As I mentioned the bodyshell is balsa and the various detail parts are either plastic card or tubing as well as brass sheet and piano wire.

It was built for a race meeting last weekend but I didn't finish it in time but I'll race it at the next Wolverhampton Pre War Race Meeting, in the meantime it makes a nice companion for my Napier Railton.